Weigh-Ins!!!

Love his little dreamer look

Aiden and Mommy!

Aiden and Daddy :)

Well it is that day again, Weigh-In Wednesday! Aiden has been changing leaps and bounds this past week. He has started continually conversing with us (in baby language of course), and smiles almost all the time. I woke up this morning to hear him gabbing away in his crib, I listened to him talk for about ten minutes before I went to say good morning. He looked up at me with a big smile and said something to me in his own little language. We have our own dialogue, we have adventures and tell each other stories of danger and excitement. I call Aiden and I "A-Team,"and we pretend that simple things like changing his diaper are secret missions. I am having a blast watching him learn, grow and just be so incredibly cute all the time. I'd like to make a special shout out in this blog post to my family, Matthew ships out today for basic training. We wish him the very best and hope that all his dreams and goals are accomplished. He will be in our hearts and prayers. I also want to say how much I love my parents and I recognize how hard this must be for them. Now that I have a little one of my own I cannot imagine him leaving and going off into the military. Kudos to my parents for keeping it together. Lots of love to all my family, we cannot wait to come out to California and see all of you!

Aiden Stats

Date: April 25, 2012

Weight: 15.9 pounds

Length: 26 inches

A little dose of our conversation...

Peanut Blossom Spinners

Delicious cookie with a backdrop of beautiful flowers
from my love. :)

Recently, David asked me to make some peanut butter cookies for one of his coworkers. Of course, I willingly agreed because I love to bake and I do think that it is a great way to thank people for their kindness. Apparently peanut butter cookies are the favorite of this particular coworker, so I whipped him up a batch and added a little twist of my own. I am sure that everyone has had the classic peanut blossoms, a peanut butter cookie with a hershey kissed placed lovingly in the center. I decided instead of the kiss, I would enhance these particular cookies with Hershey Drops that made their way into my Easter basket. Let me tell you, that bunny knew what he was doing! Not only did the cookies turn out really cute with the Easter drops but they were also incredibly delicious! 



Peanut Blossom Spinners

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

Yeah, I had to take a bite...

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

1/2 cup peanut butter

1 egg

1 1/4 cup flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

Bag of Hershey's Chocolate Drops

Beat the butter until creamy. Add the sugars and beat for a couple minutes. Mix in the peanut butter and egg. 

Mix together the dry ingredients. Stir the dry ingredients into the sugar butter mixture.

Wrap dough in plastic and refrigerate at least 3 hours.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Shape dough into 1 1/4 inch balls. Place about 3 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten in crisscross pattern with a fork.  Pull the cookies out 1-2 minutes before they are done and place Hershey drops on each cookie. Bake until light brown, 9 to 10 minutes. Cool on baking sheets for a minute; transfer to rack to cool completely.

He looks super cute with that "judgy" look on his face!! :P

2 Months Old!!!!

He's deciding if he can forgive me for the shots.

Hooray, he does!!!

Yay! Happy Baby!!!

Yesterday was the big day, my little man turned two months old. The time has flown by since we first brought him home from the hospital, I cannot believe that it was more than two weeks let alone months. We had one of our worst experiences so far, we had to take Aiden in for his two month shots. These were Aiden's first shots, I was really nervous and I found out later that I should have been. Poor little guy, when that first shot went in his whole face turned beet red and he let out this horrible, heart wrenching scream. I didn't realize when the doctor told me to hold his arms before we started that it was going to be so terrible for me, here I was helping the doctor put my little guy through this intense pain and he knew it. It shattered my heart into a million little pieces, I am pretty sure there are still a few on the floor there. After they finished putting four shots into his thighs, I thought that he would be done crying because he usually is really good about pain. He cried for about five more minutes while I held and rocked him in the room, and then quieted down. I put him in his carseat, he let out two or three wails and whimpers, then thankfully fell asleep in the car on the way home. When he woke up later, you could tell he was still in pain so Dave went and bought him some baby tylenol, (which Aiden did not really like but he took the first dose) and he went to sleep for the next few hours. To my genuine surprise, the next time my little guy woke up he was all smiles. He still had huge band-aids on his legs but his spirits were lifted, which in turn made me feel a whole lot better. We smiled, played(gently), and talked for a couple hours until it was almost time for bed. I thought that I would try and give him a dose of medicine before bed, since the effects of the last dose would be winding down anytime. Aiden had other plans. We ended up with orange medicine everywhere but in his mouth, which was frustrating but actually a little funny to see him so adamant about not wanting it. This morning we were pretty much 100% back to normal, perfect for us to fulfill our normal weigh-in Wednesday routine! I hope the next two months go by slowly, I am not looking forward to his four month shots!

Aiden Stats

Date: April 18, 2012

Weight: 15 pounds

Length: 25 1/2 inches


(I love the way he stretches, it always makes me smile. I thought I would capture it on camera and share it with all of you so you could experience my amusement and joy.)

Life is a Song

I'm singing to him while taking this picture.

Eeyore was singing "Dont Worry, Be Happy." :)

He likes Frank Sinatra, yep, he is my son!!!

Anyone who knows me knows that I am constantly singing, it does not matter where I am or how inappropriate it might be. I cannot help it. I sing to people in the grocery store, the cashiers and clerks, bank tellers, fast food workers, my mom in the Vegas buffet line, you get the picture. My life has been and probably always will be a song, a series of events set to music. I am positive that my mom had something to do with this, because she is constantly singing although not as openly as I do. Recently, I have discovered that the singing I have been doing all my life was really just preparing me for motherhood. Aiden loves being sung to and it seems like he even tries to sing a little back. We sing and dance around our living room for hours at a time, or until my arms feel like they are going to fall off because he is already getting so big. It doesn't matter what activity we are doing, I am probably singing to him. It makes me laugh to listen to myself tweak songs in order to make them fit what we are doing or to adjust them to fit my little one. For example, the classic jingle "Give Me a Break," for the Kit Kat candy bar becomes "Give Me a Burp" after little Aiden has eaten. It takes me by surprise how much Aiden seems to enjoy music in his life, how much it can soothe or delight him depending on the moment. I have always been a lover of music and of singing, but it took experiencing it through the eyes of my son to really appreciate all that music can be. I feel like through song I am able to create an even deeper bond with my little man and for that I am truly thankful. I hope that as he continues to grow, we will be able to further our pastime of making music together and that his appreciation for music will strengthen with time as mine has. Music covers all emotions, moments, and feelings, I hope that I can continue to show him not only how moving music can be but also how much fun you can have with it. Here is hoping that there is a little music in all of the lives of the people I love, life is too short not to dance, sing and enjoy every day!

An Easter picture I forgot to post, he had some happier
looking ones but this one made me laugh.

Homemade Hot Pockets

It is Food Friday!!! I have been finding different uses for my leftover ham from Easter all week. One of these uses was a completely new endeavor for me, hot pockets. I thought it would be a great idea to chop up some ham and broccoli, mix it with some shredded cheese and wrap it all up in a biscuit. I could have made my biscuits from scratch but since I had a can in the fridge and my baby needed some attention, I figured I would go the easier route. Next time, we will go all the way homemade! You don't really need a recipe to make these hot pockets but I will include a rough one anyway, just in case you need a general idea of how much I used to make these possible. I cannot wait to try making these with all different kinds of fillings, they are quick, easy and delicious! It also so much nicer to know what you are putting into your body, and not having to worry about all those preservatives and the like. 

Homemade Ham, Cheese, & Broccoli Hot Pockets

1/2 cup chopped raw broccoli
3/4 cup chopped ham
1/2 cup colby jack shredded cheese (you can use any good melting cheese)
1 can of flaky biscuits or a homemade biscuit recipe(to come in the future)


Preheat oven to 350 F.
In a small bowl mix together broccoli, ham, and cheese.
Flatten each biscuit out into an oval shape, it should be about double the size it was in the can. 
Spoon out some of the mix onto one half of each flattened biscuit. Fold the dough over and pinch the dough together, sealing all of the filling in. 
Bake on a greased cookie sheet for 15 minutes or until puffed and golden brown.

Weigh-Ins!!!

 Finally, little Aiden has slowed his growing a bit. I am already dressing him in 6-month old clothes! We also had an amazing night, he slept from 1:10am-8:50am!! Hooray for mommy and baby getting a full nights sleep! I don't know if he will keep up the sleeping habits but I was truly thankful for that one glorious night. Tune in next week to see if this growth lull continues or if he goes through another spurt!

Aiden Stats

Date: April 11, 2012

Weight: 14.1 pounds

Length: 25 inches

First Easter

This year was the first Easter we got to celebrate as a little family unit. Although, I missed sharing it with my family in California very much, I did my best to make it special for us in TN. I have always loved waking up on Easter morning to see that the Easter bunny had visited our house. When I say always, I mean that I still enjoy it to this day; including last Easter when that awesome bunny visited me at my parents house. I always greet all holidays with the same childlike enthusiasm and wonder, it may have slightly changed as I grew into an adult but the joy is still very much alive in me. The holidays are starting to transform for me, because now I have someone who I get to help bring that holiday joy to and share it with. Even though Aiden was not really old enough to realize that the Easter bunny had visited us and relish in all the delicious candy/goodies he dropped off, it was still amazing to see him with his basket. It blows my mind to think of the kinds of memories we will make and share on holidays to come. I just hope that I can give him the amazing childhood that my parents gave to me, that I am able to preserve his innocence as long as they were able to preserve mine. I hope that he can see the world with the same joy, wonder, and enthusiasm that I do and that when he grows up he realizes that even as an adult it is okay to be a "kid at heart." I hope that he will love his family as much as I do, and that he will enjoy spending time with them. I want him to have the same wonderful relationships and bonds that I do. I am so thankful for the precedent that was set with me by my parents and everyday I strive to make my son's childhood as good as mine was. I hope that next year we will be able to spend Easter with my family, but even though we could not this year I think that I managed to put together a pretty good one. We dyed eggs, went through the treasures in our Easter baskets, and I made a pretty decent dinner of honey glazed ham, cinnamon roasted sweet potatoes and butter broccoli. I know that Aiden will not remember his first Easter but I hope that in the future he will look forward to our holidays together as much as I do. 

Aiden's Grandma and Grandpa sent him that adorable little
chick in his very own giant name egg!

I hope you all had a wonderful and blessed Easter!

Weigh-In Wednesday!!!

It is that day that we "Weigh-In!" We have had quite the week, Aiden has started smiling a lot more and has even blessed my ears with a few laughs. He absolutely loves bath time, he splashes the water and smiles. I cannot wait till we get to California and I teach this little tyke to swim! 

Aiden Stats

Date: April 4, 2012

Weight: 13.9 pounds

Length: 25 inches

Date: March 28, 2012

Weight: 13 pounds

Length: 24 inches

Date: March 21, 2012

Weight: 12.3 pounds

Length: 23 1/2 inches